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Does Sleep Apnea Affect Memory?

Research has come to light that shows that sleep apnea may affect a person’s ability to remember. Sleep apnea is most often characterized by snoring punctuated by gasps for air. It is the result of a person being unable to breathe continuously throughout the night. And it can be seen that it can cause you to lose tissue in brain regions that store short-term memories. These are the kinds of memories that allow you to recall the name of a person you have just met.

Sleep apnea can cause a person to stop breathing potentially hundreds of times every night. This causes a person to wake up momentarily and fall right back asleep. It is usually so brief that a person will not even realize that he or she is waking up constantly. If you or a loved one suffers from sleep apnea, prompt treatment from our sleep apnea doctors in Los Angeles is vital.

Memories are stored in the mammillary bodies in the brain. For the study, scientists found that subjects who suffered from sleep apnea had mammillary bodies that were 20% smaller than patients who did not have sleep apnea. In the past, people thought that memory problems were the result of a person feeling groggy during the day, so he or she could not remember as well. But it appears as if the brain is actually damaged as a result of sleep apnea.